Nearly Half Of FBI Counterintelligence Investigations China-Related: Wray

Nearly half of the FBI’s 5,000 or so active counterintelligence investigations are related to Chinese espionage, according to Director Christopher Wray.

“We’ve now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case approximately every ten hours,” said the FBI chief, speaking at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute.

“The greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information, intelligence property and to our economic vitality is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China,” he added.

Additionally, China has been trying to steal US coronavirus research from American drug companies, academic institutions and health care companies, according to the Daily Caller‘s Chuck Ross.

“At this very moment, China is working to compromise American health care organizations, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions conducting essential COVID-19 research,” said Wray, adding “It’s the people of the United States who are the victims of what amounts to Chinese theft on a scale so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history.”

“The stakes could not be higher, and the potential economic harm to American businesses and the economy as a whole almost defies calculation.”

Wray also described China’s efforts to harvest data on US citizens, saying “If you are an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data. … Our data isn’t the only thing at stake here — so are our health, our livelihoods, and our security.”

And as Axios notes, Wray said Americans should keep three things in mind:

1. China’s leaders believe they are in a “generational fight” to make China the “world’s only superpower by any means necessary.”
2. Beijing uses a diverse set of methods to achieve its goals, including economic espionage, intelligence gathering, pushing for censorship at universities, and “malign foreign influence,” referring to covert and coercive attempts to make powerful people advocate for China’s interests in the U.S.
3. China is taking advantage of America’s open system, while preserving its own closed system, such as by working through ostensibly private Chinese companies to achieve state goals.